Insurance company says it should get AutoOwner.com. Is it generic?
Auto-Owners Insurance has filed UDRP cases against the owners of four domain names that it thinks infringe its intellectual property rights, including AutoOwner.com.
The insurance company’s web site is www.auto-owners.com.
The other domains in dispute are
autoownersinsurance.com
autoownersinsurance.org
autoowners-insurance.com
Although “auto owner” is certainly a generic term, I’m sure the company will argue that the many insurance links on the parked page at AutoOwner.com are incriminating. One of the links reads “Auto Owners Insurance Co”.
Autoownersinsurance.com is in bad shape, too. Some of the links on that parked page are “Pay Bill @ Auto Owners” and “Auto-Owners Insurance Company”.
The other two domains are interesting, though. They both lead to insurance related web sites.
What do you think?
Ms Domainer says
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I think if the generic term is used for its descriptive purpose, then it’s generic and should not be seen as a trademark infringement. Of course parked pages with this term are going to pull the complainant’s ads.
When will these companies learn and brand their product and/or service with a non-descriptive name and trademark? Or make up their own brand name?
This UDRP is most definitely overreaching; I hope the complainant loses this one.
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Yury says
Cases like this make me wish the UDRP panelist followed trademark infringement laws under the lanham act. Hopefully respondent wins this dispute based on the pure generic terms contained in the domain name. UDRP proceedings were meant to protect individuals against cybersquatters. There needs to be a provision added by ICANN to allow damages if the panel finds Complainants are engaging in domain name hijacking.
Rich says
Andrew,i got autoownersdotco , m’i in trouble?
They have the mark with a dash in it…And it’s a damn good generic.It resolves no where.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Rich – UDRP has a pretty solid track record of giving .co domains to the owners of the .com equivalent. In this case the insurance company owns the .com equivalent. Just be careful what you do with it.
DotCom says
It reminds me of local real estate business branding around _insertcityname_realestate company. They somehow feel that, they must be the first and last person to actually find useful business in such a fundamentally generic word or key phrase.
BostonInsurance.com would be granted to anyone with a Trademark on “Boston Insurance.” The same way LA Fitness has a trademark on all fitness in LA. I think LA is one of the most common places for fitness, and the fact other business owners have to work around arbitrary trademarks is continuing to be more and more shameful.
Jonathan says
It is a generic. The fact fact that another registrant uses advertising affiliates is not the fault of the generic owner
Nate says
It’s generic, with brandable qualities.
However, it is definitely generic.
Nate says
btw…..Auto Owners would not pay for my hail claim damage on my home.
I’m having to sue them to get reimbursed for my new roof…..Fu*kers!!
Karen Bernstein says
I see that there are two trademark registrations for “Auto-Owners” for life insurance underwriting and insurance underwriting services in the classifications of property, casualty, accident and health. These trademarks are owned by Auto-Owners Insurance Company and are listed on the Principal Register with first use dates going back to 1916. These trademarks are what we all arbitrary because Auto-Owners is not related to insurance just like “Apple” is for computers.
If the respondent in this case is linking ads to the actual Auto-Owners Insurance Company and also has ads for auto accident insurance or anything insurance-related, then most likely a UDRP panel is going to transfer the domain name away from the Respondent. If the respondent had only PPC about owning automobiles without any links to insurance-related sites, then it would be a generic use.
As I’ve said before, get those search boxes off of your parked pages or find a parking company that will allow you to use negative keywords to eliminate pro-trademark attorneys gaming the system to take your domain names away from you.
domainguy says
excellant karen, the respondent is infringing on the registered class of the
auto-owners insurance.therefore they are in violation and infringment of a registered mark on the principal register. say la vie…